Nursing
School of Nursing
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program is a two-year professional program that prepares you for a career as a registered nurse. As a BSN student, you will learn from our nationally acclaimed faculty in class and using interactive scenarios in our Learning Lab, allowing you to practice nursing skills in a safe environment before performing them in a supervised clinical setting. A solid foundation of science and humanities prerequisite coursework sets you up for success in our program. The BSN is a full-time program, including:
- academic coursework focused on critical thinking, care and therapeutics and health care resources
- in-class lecture with experienced nurse practitioners and researchers
- clinical simulation exercises in our Learning Lab
- supervised direct patient care in the field.
Applicant type
Freshmen can apply to the UW to begin autumn quarter or winter quarter (U.S. applicants only)
Read more about applying to the UW as a freshman, including details for programs that provide high school students with college credit (like Running Start).
Quarters of general admission to UW: autumn / winter (U.S. applicants only) / spring / summer
Preparation for the major is a factor in transfer admission.
- Use the information below to help you prepare for this degree
- Visit MyPlan to run a degree audit.
- Use the UW Equivalency Guide to find out how courses taken at a Washington state community or technical college will transfer to the UW.
- UW college and school graduation requirements
Department admission information
Departmental application deadline: January 15
Please contact the department for details about the application process.
Admission requires a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 as well as a minimum grade of 2.0 for each individual prerequisite. Admission is competitive and the cumulative GPA is usually significantly higher than 2.0. In addition, applicants must satisfy one of the following at the time of application:
- Three out of the total prerequisite science courses completed with a minimum cumulative GPA in these three courses of 3.00
- Four out of the total prerequisite science courses with a minimum GPA in these four courses of 2.80
Admission to the nursing major occurs once a year, for autumn quarter, with an application deadline of January 15. For additional information on admission criteria, specific prerequisites and deadlines, as well as application forms, contact the Office of Academic Services, School of Nursing, (206) 543-8736 or 1-800-759-NURS or email sonas@uw.edu. Information sessions are offered periodically in the SON, Health Sciences Building T310, and an information sessions podcast is available. For a schedule of sessions or to listen to the podcast, visit the Nursing website.
Read more about applying to the UW as a transfer student.
Courses required for the major:
- Written Communication (10 credits): English composition and Writing (W) – courses
- Problem-Solving (8 credits): one RSN 1 course OR one Statistics 2 course
- Arts & Humanities – 15 credits
- Social Sciences (15 credits), including NURS 201 SSc – Growth Development Life Span
- Natural Sciences, 26-33 credits
- BIOL 118 NSc – Survey of Physiology
- BIOL 119 NSc – Elem Physiology Lab
- B STR 301 NSc – General Anatomy
- CHEM 120 NSc RSN – Chemistry I 3
- CHEM 220 NSc – Chemistry II 3
- CHEM 221 NSc – Chemistry III 3
- MICROM 301 NSc – General Microbiology;
- MICROM 302 NSc – Microbiology Lab 4
- NUTR 200 NSc – Nutrition for Today
- Electives to complete 90 credits
Entering transfer information:
Total undergraduates: 103
Total from Washington community colleges: 33
Entering transfer GPA (from WA community colleges):
3.75 – 4.00: 19
3.50 – 3.74: 7
3.25 – 3.49: <5
3.00 – 3.24: 6
2.75 – 2.99: <5
2.50 – 2.74: <5
2.49 and below: <5